Chapter Text
Toph’s POV
What Mai told me threw me in a loop, she was right in a way, but how am I supposed to just let them take control of me? I know they wouldn’t really, but the idea of simply having to do all that once again sends chills down my spine. The worst part is that I don’t even know how to express this, we need them to accept what we show them, but they need to feel powerful… I took a big breath as I concocted what would be my next steps, however, as it turns out, I can’t think of any other way. Maybe I need to talk to someone, it can’t be my husband or Aang or Katara… they would listen, but ultimately just I help me at all.
That’s when it hit me… the best person I can get is someone who has nothing to do with any of this, in other words, someone who’s close to me, but that has no connection with the Old Colonies or the Fire sages, and, the hardest part, isn’t employed by my husband since it could change there judgement. So, I guess it’s time to do something, that I should have done as soon as I arrived back here.
“Lila! Come here and bring some paper and a pen for you to write!”
Rivière’s POV
Sometimes I wonder how would it be like to have my parents around or maybe another sibling? Priede is great for me sometimes, but I wish he’d allow me to be just about anything other than a piece in the game of chess that I don’t even know who is playing. Generally my loneliness leads me to trail behind my brother and some days it’s okay, he doesn’t mind it, but in others is almost like my presence is too much. Once he even told me that I was like a curse, the only reminder of a family that was a lot better before me.
I was going down this same old spiral when a servant showed up and I was quite a surprise when, after months without any news, I received a letter sent by Toph. The letter wasn’t long, but it did say that she missed my company and wished to talk to me as her friend. This letter sent me down another spiral, I really do appreciate this friendship with Toph, but I know that my extent of my advice will never be able to truly express what I think and to give her the proper support. This is not an organic friendship where I can just be myself, be a friend and just not worry. If I mess up I’ll be dead, that part they made it really clear. So it’s understandable my absolute shock when Priede suddenly appeared beside me and demanded to know what was in the envelope.
“It’s a letter from Toph. She said that she misses me.” He made a head gesture to show his comprehension.
“She has being back for a bit now, she probably is in a desperate need to have someone to rely on since there is said to be a lot of pressure on her right now with everything that’s happening in the Old Colonies.” Spirits help me… why couldn’t he just be a normal brother?
“That makes sense, brother.”
“I know. You know what to do, right?”
I nodded my head as I went to my room and dispensed the servants as I started to pack to go to the Fire Nation Palace. I needed something to occupy my head with, unfortunately it didn’t work since there was one thought going through my head over and over again ‘will this ever end, could we ever be free?’.
Master Tiren’s (Head of the Fire Sages) POV
(A few days later)
How could I have been so stupid? This current marriage of the Fire Lord isn’t helping us in the latest and I also heard that this brilliant idea of his and his friends have only raised some eyebrows since nobody has bought this ‘New Nation’ nonsense. Ugh, this stupid boy doesn’t learn… as long as he keeps this attitude and doesn’t listen properly we’ll be getting into trouble, I wonder when this will blow up in his face.
There as a knock on the door “Enter”
Master Poloski entered and took a seat in front of me. “From what I could gather, Toph plans to put herself at our mercy and let us control her more freely in exchange for more help in this vanity project of theirs.” Before I could say what I had in mind, Poloski raised his hand asking me to let him finish “I know you don’t really see any of this as progress, but think about it. This is a project that the Avatar is heading, so if anything goes wrong he was the one taking care of if, at least mainly. Also, controlling a little be more our Fire Lady means that we can make her stay here for more time, remember the last letter the Earth Queen sent you? She doesn’t believe in this marriage and is not cooperating based on that. I bet whatever you want that If those two have a baby the problem will be solved.”
“I don’t know, Master Poloski…”
“Please, Master Tiren, what I’m trying to convey is: if it all goes well, the Fire Nation will have been part of it. And if it goes wrong, that can be placed on the Avatar. But while we don’t have anything definitive, we can use this to help us control Toph a little better.”
“How long do I have to get to a conclusion?”
“Less than an hour.” With that, Master Poloski got up and left my office, probably ready to give the speech to just about everyone else he came across.
Toph’s POV
(a few days before)
“Well, I know you didn’t invite me here for this type of counseling, but I don’t think I can offer anything better right now.”
Rivière arrived the day before and throughout this first day she was just being eerily quiet. I just had a feeling she couldn’t handle whatever was going inside her head at that moment. But as I was talking to Katara about some of my worries regarding this meeting, nothing so particular or relevant as what I intended to tell Rivière, with the sages I realized my new friend was getting more nervous. I didn’t think her initial quietness was related to any of this, after all… once we became friends I stoped to listen to what some people had to say about her, not that I really cared, but it seemed like a good thing to do at the moment, what I wasn’t expecting though was that the only thing most of the people had to say was that she and her brother had a strangely abusive relationship. Some even went as far as to say that it happened because her brother was never able to cope with their parent’s death.
Getting Rivière to come to the gardens and asking about what was tormenting her seemed like a good idea, however, to my surprise, she didn’t want to vent about whatever was going on in her life…
.
“I don’t have much to tell you Toph. I want peace and I want my decisions to be respected. But so do you. You see… I think I have been using this same strategy for too long. That may be the problem so it’s time to switch up a little, you know?”
“Well, I do want to be able to be who I am and not let myself be controlled, but in this case I’ll have to let go otherwise I don’t think we’ll ever be able to make all of this come true. But I think I’m happy for you, you deserve all of those things as well and if ‘changing the strategy’ will help, then go for it.”
“No, you are not understanding… I have to change the strategy because I used this same one for too long, but by the looks of it, same goes for you. I need to change the strategy and so do you, except that I have always played cool, so being a little more… agitated won’t look to weird. At least not as much as you being completely complacent to the consul, they can be pretty perceptive at times, although, and I have to admit, they do tend to only see want they want.”
“So you are telling me to not put myself at their mercy?”
“Yes, but no. You have to be vulnerable, but try to negotiate, don’t just give in. That won’t look right. Think about the transmissions. The people like you because, besides being their war hero and Fire Lady, you are strong and that inspire them. If they see that you are just completely at the Sage’s mercy that may make some lose a little bit of their trust in you. And that’s ignoring the fact that the Sages may not believe you.”
“I’ll do my best, just not sure as to what that means exactly at this moment…”
.
She got up from the bench she was seating at and came over to stand in front of me and my earth stool and gave me a quick hug “I’m sure you are going to do well. But keep it in mind… Are you playing your old ‘Toph character’? Yes, you are going to, but that character can not outshine who you are. You are the Fire Lady, y-o-u are, I’m not saying Mai is wrong, quite the opposite, she is a brilliant strategist, so take what she gave you and don’t waste it, you need to make it believable. Negotiate with them.”
With the soles of my feet I felt not only her sincerity and desperation, but also a Katara and a servant going through the garden, probably trying to find me so we can go to the meeting and get all of this over with. Whatever is going to happen in this meeting will change our world forever, and I can only hope is for the better.
Zuko’s POV
(the next day)
“Ready?” Aang asked beside me as we are waiting to start the transmission.
“They need to know. And I hope that this will be well taken by them.” He put his hand on my shoulder and smiled kindly.
“Yeah.” I can hear they calling my name, it’s time to go and explain to the Fire Nation people, as well as the rest of the world, what we have been doing and the next few steps. They are happy, I guess the rumor that the Avatar would participate in this also did a little bit of the trick. The rest of my family enters and takes their place in their usual chairs when lastly Aang and Katara also join us making every citizen near by look slightly dumb folded yet pleased. Once everyone calms down a bit, I finally start with the normal announcements before really focusing on the main one. They are anxious, I can see it, they have some theories from what I heard, but they don’t know yet…
“And lastly, but not least. I would like to invite my dear friend and Avatar, to make this last announcement with me.” Aang raised from his chair and walked over to me “Please, Aang. This was your idea, nothing more appropriate than helping me deliver this news.”
He looked at me and smirked “May I tell a story then?”
“Of course. Just make sure to keep it child friendly.” Once everyone looked a little more relaxed, after my little attempt at a joke, I added “Just kidding, we are talking about Aang here, everyone. It’s not Sokka.”
“Thank you, my friend. Well, as I am sure everyone here knows, I’m the Avatar, but I’m also an Air nomad, and I have traveled a bit over the last few years. This world that we leave in is great, there are a lot of truly wonderful things out there to explore, different cultures, beliefs, food… Every place as well as every person has it’s strengths and no one can deny that. Look at me for instance, the Avatar, I’m not a better healer or cook then Katara, in fact I barely know who to do any of this. I will never beat Toph in a pure Earth bending contest, heck she can even bend metal. As of Zuko, well, I think we can skip that one.” Aang stoped and waited for the laughter to die down
“Either way, we are all very special and besides the fact that I spoke mainly about bending, this goes way beyond that. The last few rulers of this nation made a great mistake, they became greedy. They stoped seeing the importance of this difference. So ever since Zuko became a Fire Lord we have been working together in order to change things up, my idea was to find a way for all to see those magical things that we experienced in our travels. But that’s not so easy, traveling around demands a lot, thankfully we found another way.”
“So, it’s with great pleasure that I can announce that we are promoting this union. Yes, you heard it right, people from the Fire Nation, Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom and the Air Nation, by the form of the new acolytes, will be able to interact with each other, to have those cultural exchanges, because we are creating a new nation. With the approval from all the heads of state and their respective promise of collaboration, I’m happy to announce that the old Fire Nation Colonies in the Earth Kingdom will be transformed in the new United Republic of Nations!” No need to say that the public went absolutely wild…